The NCAA transfer portal for the 2025 college basketball season officially opened on March 24, and the Indiana women's basketball program is already seeing players put their names into the mix.
It’s been two days since the portal opened, and Indiana has lost five players to it—all of whom came off the bench this previous season. Sophomore guard Julianna LaMendola, junior guard Lexus Bargesser, junior guard Henna Sandvik, junior forward Sharnecce Currie-Jelks, and junior forward Lilly Meister announced their intention to transfer in the past 48 hours.
With the graduation of guards Sydney Parrish, Chloe Moore McNeil, and forward Karoline Striplin, only six players remain from Indiana’s 14-player roster.
Julianna LaMendola
The sophomore guard came to Indiana from Coppell, Texas, where she was the 2023 Texas Gatorade Player of the Year.
LaMendola appeared in 60 games for the Hoosiers, starting five games this past season when Parrish went down with a knee injury early into the season. She averaged 1.8 points and 1.9 rebounds as a freshman while shooting 40.4 percent from the field. The 6-foot-1 guard averaged 9.5 minutes per game in the 2023-24 season.
However, her role with the Hoosiers grew in the 2024-25 season when she averaged 10.9 minutes per game and 2.3 points and 2.1 rebounds. LaMendola is a gritty player who constantly sought to draw charges and did so successfully on the defensive end and drives to the rim on the offensive end. Yet LaMendola never found her rhythm offensively with the Hoosiers, finishing her two-year career shooting 37 percent from the field. Her career high was 10 points, eight rebounds, and five assists on December 15, 2024, in an Indiana win against Bellarmine.
LaMendola will have two remaining eligibility seasons.
Lexus Bargesser
A native of Grass Lake, Michigan, Bargesser played 90 games over three seasons with the Hoosiers and nine being started. As a freshman, Bargesser played in 29 games, averaging 2.1 points and one rebound with 7.8 minutes of work off the bench. Yet her role grew her sophomore year when she started nine games and averaged a career-high of 4.3 points, 2.8 assists, and 2.7 rebounds in an average of 21.7 minutes per game.
In her junior year campaign for the 2024-25 season, she missed the first four games with a wrist injury but then returned to the team in the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis. While her role with the Hoosiers continued to grow, she only averaged 17.2 minutes per game. Known as a ball-handler, playmaker, and air-tight defender, Bargesser was a key player coming off the bench for Indiana. When Moore-McNeil was off the floor, Bargesser was the player to step up to guard the most challenging matchup. This past season, she averaged 3.4 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists. Throughout her career with the Hoosiers, she shot 45.7 percent from the floor and 61 percent from the charity stripe.
Bargesser will have one year of eligibility remaining.
Lilly Meister
Meister played as the backup behind Mackenzie Holmes for her first two seasons. Once Holmes graduated, Meister was expected to fill Holmes's big shoes. The 6-foot-3 forward from Rochester, Minnesota, played 96 games over three seasons for the Hoosiers, including 18 starts.
During her freshman campaign, Meister made one start and averaged 2.4 points and 2.1 rebounds in 6.5 minutes per game. When her sophomore year came around, her role grew to coming off the bench for all 32 games and averaging 10.4 minutes. She averaged 3.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and shot 71.4 percent from the field. Throughout her sophomore season, she showed a bright future of becoming Holmes's backup and replacement once she graduated.
Ultimately, she did become Holmes' replacement this past season, starting 17 of 33 games. Meister saw her numbers decrease once conference play began. Through the first 13 games of the season, Meister scored in double figures eight times and recorded one double-double. However, as her numbers and efficiency decreased and conference play got into full swing, she was removed from the starting lineup and came off the bench. She averaged 6.7 points and 3.5 rebounds in 17.2 minutes per game. Meister and Striplin traded roles every game, and each other's minutes increased if the other was in foul trouble. Meister struggled this season, staying out of foul trouble and rebounding at the rim. However, Meister averaged 6.3 points in the final three postseason games.
Meister has yet to release a statement about her decision to transfer, but multiple reports published the news. She has one season of eligibility remaining.
Henna Sandvik
A native of Helsinki, Finland, Sandvik played in 75 games over her three seasons at Indiana. The 6-foot guard never started for the Hoosiers, played a backup role under Moren, and averaged eight minutes per game.
Her most notable game was this past season against Bellarmine, where she came off the bench for 25 minutes, recording 13 points and six rebounds. Yet over her career with Indiana, she averaged just 1.1 points and 1.0 rebounds per game. Throughout her career, she scored 81 points and showed potential for the Hoosiers early on in non-conference play, coming off the bench and sharing the ball but also shooting well. Last season, Sandvik shot 48.3 percent from the field. However, as the season progressed and conference play began, Sandvik played multiple games without seeing the court.
Sandvik has not yet released a statement about her decision to enter the transfer portal, but multiple reports have published the news. She will have one season of eligibility remaining.
Sharnecce Currie-Jelks
Currie-Jelks transferred to Indiana from UT-Martin, where she averaged 15.2 points and 6.9 rebounds per game in almost 30 minutes per game as a freshman. A native of Jackson, Tennessee, she spent two seasons at Indiana but did not see that production transfer over. In her two years for the Hoosiers, she only appeared in nine games and had a career-high of five minutes played against Eastern Illinois in the 2023-24 season.
The 6-foot-2 forward scored two points against North Carolina earlier in the season and had 12 minutes played throughout the entire season.
She will have at least one year of eligibility remaining.
Before the transfer portal opened, Indiana had only two scholarships for next season. Now, with the announcement of five players leaving the program, Moren has more space to work with throughout the transfer portal recruitment process. There is a lot of work that Moren and her staff have to make up for with the departure of eight total players from this past season’s roster.
